I'm looking at buying a 68 locally. It's listed as a resto mod with aftermarket suspension, brakes, wheels, etc. My question is what causes the rear end to sit higher with a larger fender gap than stock? Most stock first gens rear wheels are almost tucked under the rear fender and look beautiful. But I see an equal amount for sale that look "jacked up" for lack of a better term. Is this caused by incorrect suspension, shocks, wheel/tire size, a combination of these, or something else? Wondering if this look can be remedied after purchase. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi-arch leaf springs, or air shocks, or smaller diameter tires. Any one of the reasons why the rear is or looks to be sitting higher can be changed/reversed.

 

One more mod that could do that is extended rear spring shackles.

 

This goes back to the old dragster days. When the car launches you want the weight to shift to the back tires and push the rear down while the front end lifts up to the top of the shock. In a perfect launch 90% of the weight is on the back wheels now and add in body twist, rear torque wrap and tires that don’t fit inside the quarter panel. This could be problematic in a rear without clearance. Of course many of the cars with the jacked up look in the rear don’t need it, it’s about the look.

There is not much to a rear solid axle to mess up raised or lowered, What messes with these cars is raising and lowing the front end without addressing the critical geometry that will vary with ride height.

You will have a look at each car and see how it was done. Some are simple to undo and some could require fabrication. Some could be hiding other issues like sagging springs hidden with air shocks. I had a friend that bought a 67 camaro “hot rod” and some moron jacked the car up where he wanted it and welded everything solid. I cannot stress enough how completely wrong that is on every level and what a pain to fix.

 

Thanks to all for the replies, the car is advertised with new rear air shocks and new springs. From the listing the guy bought a roller and completed the restoration, so I'll ask him about the rear end being higher. I'm a fan of the more traditional look, so wanted to get an idea if this would be a correctable issue. Thanks again.

 

The car could have any brand of shock or spring that could cause the higher stance vs stock. As mentioned some easily correctable unless it is just the wrong hacked parts.

The cheapest and fastest way to lower the back is with lowering blocks between leaf spring & axle housing. They come in 1/2" increments.

My 67 was "stock" when I got it and to me it had more of a 4 x 4 look so I used RideTech lowering springs for the front which brought it down 1 1/2" and 2" blocks in the rear. It has 14" mags so that was also a contributor to the tire fender gap

pic after the drop

 

That's the answer to your question. Air shocks are used to jack up the rear of the body. The car didn't originally come equipped with air shocks, it's an add on. You can let some air out of them to lower the back end, as long as it doesn't also have arced leaf springs.

 

So I went to check this car out tonight and really liked it. Had another question I was hoping you guys could answer. Car has a 383 Stroker crate engine with angle plug heads. The owner had to dimple the headers, pretty significantly in my opinion, to get them to clear on the drivers side. No issues on the passenger side. He claims no loss of power or issues, and a quick internet search seems like this is a fairly common issue with angle plugs and headers. Anything specific I should be concerned with or look at further? The headers were fairly compressed in a few places, probably half the diameter of the pipe, definitely seems like it could be an issue. Thanks

 

Hoping the experts on here can help me with another question. Can anyone tell me what the thick U shaped things are mounted on either side of the transmission? Are they spacers or blocks, and can this be the reason the rear of the car is so high? If so are they easily removed to get back to a normal stance? Thanks

 

Denting the header will have little to no effect on the engine. Hot rod did a test and could find no measurable difference in a header that was collapsed almost ½ way up to 500 hp.



The picture is showing a rear axle not a transmission. The two shinny mounting blocks mounted to the rear axle on either side of the differential (HAWKS) are sway bar mount. They will have no effect on ride height. As stated, removing air from big yellow air shocks in the pic are most likely the way to drop the rear. Warning there may be a reason the car is up that high. As you drain air watch your tire clearance. Tires may be too wide. If the current owner built the car he should know if and how far the car can be lowered in the rear with the current tire. It is a simple process, if he thinks your serious he should be will to drop it for you.